INVESTMENT: More Worker-Owners

WELCOME TO SOUTH BEND LATHE AMERICA'S
LARGEST 100 PERCENT EMPLOYEE OWNED COMPANY.
So reads the proud sign in
front of a sprawling red brick factory in South Bend, Ind. Little more
than a year ago, the 70-year-old machine-tool maker faced liquidation
because its performance was not up to the expectations of its owners,
Amsted Industries Inc., a Chicago-based conglomerate. But South Bend
was a solid company with good years ahead of it, thought some of its
top executives. They went shopping for a way to buy the company and
pump in enough working capital to keep it going...